Outfielder Óscar Mercado is back with the Phillies. He opted out of a minor league deal with the Phils just over a week ago but his transactions tracker at MLB.com indicates he has re-signed with the club on a new minor league deal.
Mercado signed the deal he recently opted out of back in February. Before opting out, he got into 92 Triple-A games and stepped to the plate 378 times. His 14.6% walk rate was better than his 13.8% strikeout rate. That led to a .252/.373/.385 batting line and 107 wRC+. He also stole 35 bases while playing all three outfield spots.
That performance was solid but not enough to get called up to Philadelphia. The club has had an outfield rotation of Nick Castellanos, Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler for most of the year, with others chipping in on occasion. They added Harrison Bader into the mix at the deadline and also have prospect Justin Crawford knocking on the door.
The path to a big league job isn’t great. Mercado took a few days to look around for other offers but has decided to return to the Phillies. He’ll provide them with some non-roster depth but it could take a few injuries for his services to be required in the majors.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
Looks like the Phillies took him off the Mercado
Looks like his Mercado was limited.
Need Bohm to get activated to give Harper a day off.
Mercado is another guy I appreciate. Decent depth whose not intimidated by the big stage.
Well, as a Cleveland fan I would disagree. Maybe SpongeBob can go the “opposite” direction and help the Phils.